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LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State Athletics
Director Dr. McKinley Boston announced Friday afternoon that Doug Martin has accepted,
in principle, an offer to become the 34th head football coach in New
Mexico State history.

The official announcement will be made at a press conference on
Monday, February 4, at 9:00 a.m. in the Barbara Hubbard Room, located on the
second floor of the Pan American Center Annex.

“Obviously with the resignation of Coach DeWayne Walker, we then
engaged in a search process for a new head coach, interviewing four candidates
including Doug Martin over the last few days. After that process the committee
and I felt strongly that Doug would fit well as the Aggies’ next head coach,”
Boston said. “Doug’s familiarity with Las Cruces, his desire to come back to
Las Cruces, the overwhelming support of him as a candidate were all factors
that went into the thought process. I’m very confident that Doug will provide
great leadership in our effort to build a quality program as one that is
defined as consistently bowl eligible. I look forward to working very closely
with Doug to build a quality football program that we know everyone in Southern
New Mexico, alumni across the state and the country would like to see. No one
wants to see this program succeed anymore than I do.”

“I am thrilled for the opportunity and very
appreciative that Dr. Boston and the administration have the confidence in me
to move this program forward,” Martin said. “I think there is unlimited
potential in this program and in this city and I look forward to building this
football program to be part of the City of Las Cruces.”

Martin was named interim head coach back on January
24, after the departure of DeWayne Walker to the NFL. This is Martin’s second
stint with the Aggies, as he was the Aggies’ offensive coordinator during the
2011 season.

Martin left NM State after the 2011 season to take the offensive
coordinator position at Boston College in 2012. The Eagles ranked 47th
in the nation in passing offense, as Martin guided wide receiver Alex Amidon
and offensive tackle Emmett Cleary to All-ACC honors. Amidon finished the
season ranked 11th among all receivers in the country in receiving yards per
game (100.8). He ranks second among all ACC receiving in both receptions per
game (6.5) and receiving yards per game.

Martin was the offensive coordinator of the Aggies back in 2011,
as the Aggies ranked 47th in total offense and 26th in
passing offense. He helped guide the Aggies to a win over Minnesota, the
program’s first win against a team from the Big Ten. Under Martin, the Aggies
had three All-WAC selections in wide receiver Taveon Rogers, offensive tackle
Davonte Wallace and running back Kenny Turner. Quarterback Matt Christian led
the Aggies with 2,158 yards passing and 15 touchdowns in 2011.

With seven seasons under his belt as the head
coach at Kent State University and eight as the offensive coordinator, Martin
was instrumental in building a true football program of the past several
seasons. A total of 20 Golden Flashes earned All-Mid-American Conference
accolades from 2007-10, including Eugene Jarvis, who was atop the active
Football Bowl Subdivision running backs list with 3,722 career yards on the
ground, and Brian Lainhart, whose 17 career interceptions was also tops among
active FBS players.

In 2010, Roosevelt Nix was named the MAC
Defensive Player of the Year under Martin's watch. Also under Martin, four
players were selected in the NFL draft including Jameson Konz (2010 - 7th
round, Seattle Seahawks), Usama Young (2007 - 3rd round, New Orleans Saints),
Jack Williams (2008 - 4th round, Denver Broncos) and Julian Edelman (2009 - 7th
round, New England Patriots), with Young becoming the sixth-highest pick in the
history of the program.

Over the past four years, Martin's offense at
Kent State recorded a remarkable 16,907 yards of total offense, averaging 422.6
yards per game during that spanned including 26.3 points a game.

In December of 2006, Martin signed a
four-year extension that kept him in Blue and Gold through 2010. The extension
rewarded a 2006 campaign that saw Kent State pull off the fourth-largest
turnaround in the nation, improving by five wins over the previous year's
total.

Included in the performance was a five-game
winning streak, including four straight MAC victories - the Flashes' longest
conference streak ever. Furthermore, the nation's 25th-ranked team
in total defense in 2006, limited Miami and Bowling Green to a combined 17
points as Kent State won road games against the RedHawks and Falcons in the
same season for the first time since 1972. Kent State saw five players earn
All-MAC accolades.

In addition to his head coaching duties,
Martin also served as quarterbacks coach and was the offensive coordinator for
all but the 2009 season.

Martin is widely regarded as one of the
nation's premier quarterback mentors. His list of protégés includes three-time
All-Conference USA selection and current NFL passer David Garrard,
record-setting CFL quarterback Marcus Crandell and other pros Richard Alston
and Joshua Cribbs, who both played quarterback in college under Martin before
switching positions in the NFL.

In 2005, Martin's spread passing attack
posted the third-highest yardage total in school history while the team's 15
touchdown passes were the sixth most in a single year at Kent State. The
Flashes also reached the 30-point mark three times in 2005, running the total
number of games with at least that many points to 16 since 2003.

In Martin's first season, the Golden Flashes
posted a 5-6 overall record, winning their final four games for the program's
longest winning streak since 1976. The team also finished in fourth place in the
MAC East Division with a 4-4 mark while producing three All-MAC players and two
honorable mention All-Americans.

Martin also handled the offensive
play-calling duties and the unit responded to his coaching, scoring 335 points
and racking up 4,168 yards, the second- and third-highest totals, respectively,
in school history.

Under his guidance, the Flashes averaged 30.5
points per game, just the third time in school history a team averaged 30 or
more points. The team also set a single-game scoring mark in its 69-17 win over
Eastern Michigan Nov. 13. Four times in 2004 the Flashes totaled more than 400
yards on offense, including two games over 500.

Additionally, in two years tutoring All-MAC
quarterback Joshua Cribbs, Martin saw Cribbs develop into one of the top dual
threats in the country. Always a talented runner, Cribbs finished his career as
the owner of KSU career records for total offense, passing yardage, touchdowns,
points and completions. He also ranked fourth nationally in total offense and
completed a school-record 64.5 percent of his passes. As a team, the Flashes
had a completion rate of 62.8 percent, also a school record.

While his spread offensive style is his
calling card, Martin revamped his defensive coaching staff and saw that unit go
from ranking 12th of 14 teams in the MAC in total defense in 2003 to first in
the league in 2004. It marked the first time since 1987 that the team led the
MAC in total defense and just the second time since joining the conference in
1951. Kent State also ranked 15th nationally in total defense.

Martin was named the school's 19th head coach
on March 1, 2004, replacing Dean Pees. Martin joined the Kent State staff in
January 2003 as offensive coordinator. After just one year on the staff, Martin
made an instant impact on the Golden Flashes' offense. In its first season
under Martin's system, Kent State averaged 26.8 points per game, the
second-highest in the last 30 years, and scored 30-or-more points in each of
the final six games and did so in a school-record eight games overall.

From 2002-04 Martin's teams averaged nearly
30 points per game and posted the highest offensive totals in back-to-back
years in school history. From 2002-03 alone, scoring offense increased by 10
points, touchdowns grew from 24 to 40, total offense was up by more than 40
yards per game and passing yardage increased by nearly 100 yards per game.

In 2004, that trend continued as the Flashes'
increased their scoring, touchdowns, passing yards and total yards per game.

Martin arrived at Kent State following 11
seasons at East Carolina University, the last seven of which he was in charge
of the team's offense. He was at ECU for all of Steve Logan's tenure there,
serving as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for two seasons (1992-93),
then another two years as wide receivers coach (1994-95) before being promoted
to offensive coordinator in 1996.

At East Carolina, Martin played a significant
role in the development of quarterback David Garrard, who broke 28 school
passing records and total offensive records from 1998-01. In addition, Martin
coached the top three receivers in ECU history. During Martin's time at ECU,
the team advanced to five bowl games; the Liberty Bowl in 1994 and 1995, the
GMAC (formerly Mobile Alabama) Bowl in 1999 and 2001 and the
galleryfurniture.com Bowl in 2000.

Prior to joining the staff at East Carolina,
Martin was a graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky, his alma mater,
from 1986-87 and then spent the 1988-91 seasons at East Tennessee State University,
where he coached the running backs his first year, then served as the offensive
coordinator and quarterbacks/wide receivers coach his final three seasons.

Martin was a four-year
letterwinner at Kentucky from 1981-84, spending time as a part-time starter at
quarterback before injuries limited him to the holder role. A native of Oak
Ridge, Tenn., Martin earned a bachelor's degree in history from Kentucky in
1985.

Martin and his wife Vicki have a daughter,
Molly, and two sons, Cory and Bobby.